Method for producing silica aerogel and silica aerogel produced thereby

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method of preparing a silica aerogel. The silica aerogel is prepared by adding a first water glass solution and an acid catalyst to a reactor to form a first silica wet gel. The method further includes adding a second water glass solution and an acid catalyst to the first silica wet gel. The method further includes adding a surface modifier solution to the first silica wet gel to form a second silica wet gel. The method further includes drying a silica wet gel including the first silica wet gel and the second silica wet gel. The prepared silica aerogel has a tap density of 0.032 to 0.070 g/mL and a carbon content of 11.2 to 12.1 wt %.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of allowed co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/768,995, which is the National Stage Applicationof International Application No. PCT/KR2017/009769 filed on Sep. 6,2017, which claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2016-0117520, filed on Sep. 12, 2016, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosures of each of which are incorporatedherein in their entirety by reference for all purposes as if fully setforth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for producing a silicaaerogel, and a silica aerogel produced thereby.

BACKGROUND

An aerogel is a superporous, high specific surface area (≥500 m²/g)material having a porosity of about 90 to 99.9% and a pore size in therange of 1 to 100 nm, and is a material excellent in ultra-light weight,super thermal insulation, ultra-low dielectric, and the like.Accordingly, research on the development of aerogel materials as well asresearch on the practical use thereof as transparent insulationmaterials, environmentally friendly high temperature insulationmaterials, ultra-low dielectric thin films for highly integrateddevices, catalysts and catalyst carriers, electrodes forsupercapacitors, and electrode materials for seawater desalination havebeen actively studied.

The biggest advantage of the aerogel is that the aerogel has asuper-insulation exhibiting a thermal conductivity of 0.300 W/m·K orless, which is lower than that of an organic insulation material such asconventional Styrofoam, and that fire vulnerability and the occurrenceof harmful gases in case of fire which are fatal weaknesses of theorganic insulation material can be solved.

In general, the aerogel is produced by preparing a hydrogel from asilica precursor such as water glass and alkoxysilane series (TEOS,TMOS, MTMS, etc.), and removing a liquid component inside the hydrogelwithout destroying a microstructure. The typical form of a silicaaerogel may be classified into three types, i.e., powder, granule, andmonolith, and the silica aerogel is generally produced in the form ofpowder.

Meanwhile, when the silica aerogel absorbs moisture, the characteristicsand physical properties of a gel structure are deteriorated. Therefore,in order to easily use the silica aerogel in industries, a method whichis capable of permanently preventing moisture in the air from beingabsorbed is required. Accordingly, methods for producing a silicaaerogel having permanent hydrophobicity by hydrophobizing the surfacethereof have been proposed.

Accordingly, the silica aerogel is generally produced by a sol-gelmethod in which sol formation, hydrogel formation, aging, solventexchange, surface modification, and drying are carried out.

However, the sol-gel method requires a very complicated process andrequires much cost and time, thus deteriorating the productivity andeconomical efficiency of the silica aerogel. Therefore, the developmentof a novel method for producing a silica aerogel having better physicalproperties by a simpler process is required.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

[Patent Document 1]

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2015-0093123 (published onAug. 17, 2015)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION Technical Problem

An aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing asilica, wherein the method provides excellent productivity andeconomical efficiency due to a simple production process, and is capableof forming a silica aerogel having enhanced mechanical properties toincrease the resistance to shrinkage during ambient drying, therebyforming a low-density silica aerogel, and is also capable of controllingthe concentration of the first and second water glass solutions tocontrol the physical properties of the silica aerogel.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a silica aerogelproduced by the above-described method.

Technical Solution

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod for preparing a silica aerogel including the steps of 1) adding afirst water glass solution and an acid catalyst to a reactor to form afirst silica wet gel; 2) adding a second water glass solution and anacid catalyst to the first silica wet gel; 3) adding a surface modifiersolution to the first silica wet gel to form a second silica wet gel;and 4) drying a silica wet gel including the first silica wet gel andthe second silica wet gel.

In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a silica aerogel produced by the above-described method.

Advantageous Effects

In a method for producing a silica aerogel according to the presentinvention, gelation, solvent exchange, and surface modification may besimultaneously performed during a single step, and thus the productiontime is shortened to provide excellent productivity and economicalefficiency.

In addition, a first silica wet gel is first formed, and thereafter thefirst silica wet gel is used as a basic skeleton to which a secondsilica wet gel is then organically bonded, thereby forming a silicaaerogel having enhanced mechanical properties. Accordingly, theresistance to shrinkage in ambient drying may be increased to form asilica aerogel having a low density.

Furthermore, there is an effect in that the physical properties of thesilica aerogel may be controlled by controlling the concentration of asilica precursor added in each step.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail toallow for a clearer understanding of the present invention. In thiscase, it will be understood that words or terms used in thespecification and claims shall not be interpreted as the meaning definedin commonly used dictionaries. It will be further understood that thewords or terms should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thetechnical idea of the invention, based on the principle that an inventormay properly define the meaning of the words or terms to best explainthe invention.

Generally, in the production of a silica aerogel, drying technology forremoving a solvent while maintaining a pore structure of a wet gelwithout any change and mass production technology having economicalefficiency are the most essential technologies.

A silica wet gel produced by using water glass is shaped such that poresthereof are filled with water which is a solvent. Simply drying andremoving the solvent, causes a pore structure to easily shrink and crackdue to a solvent extraction rate difference and a capillary force causedby a high surface tension of water at the gas/liquid interface while thesolvent in a liquid phase is vaporized to a gas phase. This leads to areduction in surface area and a change in pore structure. Thus, in orderto maintain the pore structure of the wet gel, it is necessary toexchange water having a relatively high surface tension with an organicsolvent having a relatively low surface tension, and also a technique isrequired which is capable of washing and drying the wet gel withoutshrinkage while maintaining the structure of the wet gel without anychange.

In addition, the dried silica aerogel maintains a low thermalconductivity just after drying, but absorbs water in the air due to thehydrophilicity of a silanol group (Si—OH) on the silica surface, so thatthere is a disadvantage that the nanopore structure is shrunk due to thecondensation reaction of the silanol group, and the thermal conductivitygradually increases. Therefore, in order to maintain a low thermalconductivity, the surface of the silica aerogel needs to be modified tohave a hydrophobicity. Accordingly, a method for modifying the surfaceof the silica aerogel so as to have a hydrophobicity by using a surfacemodifier is widely used. However, there is a problem in that a high unitprice of the surface modifier and a difficulty in controlling thesurface modification reaction result in poor productivity.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for producing alow-density hydrophobic silica aerogel, which is excellent inproductivity and economical efficiency and is capable of enhancing themechanical properties of the silica aerogel.

Hereinafter, a method for producing a silica aerogel according to anembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

A method for producing a silica aerogel according to an embodiment ofthe present invention includes: 1) adding a first water glass solutionand an acid catalyst to the reactor to form a first silica wet gel; 2)adding a second water glass solution and an acid catalyst to the firstsilica wet gel; 3) adding a surface modifier solution to the firstsilica wet gel to form a second silica wet gel; and 4) drying a silicawet gel including the first silica wet gel and the second silica wetgel.

Step 1) according to an embodiment of the present invention is a step offorming the first silica wet gel, and may be specifically a step ofadding an acid catalyst to the first water glass solution in the reactorto cause a reaction under the condition that the acidity (pH) is in therange of 4 to 7.

Here, the reaction may indicate a sol-gel reaction, and the sol-gelreaction may allow a network structure to be formed from a silicaprecursor material. Also, the network structure may be a planar meshstructure in which specific polygons having one or more types of atomicarrangement are linked to each other, or a structure in which specificpolyhedrons share their vertices, edges, faces, etc., with each other toform a three dimensional skeleton structure.

The first silica wet gel may serve as not only a basic skeleton of thesilica aerogel to be finally obtained by the production method of thepresent invention and but also a silica structure that functions as theframe of the network structure. The present invention may provide amechanically more stable silica aerogel by organically bonding thesecond silica wet gel to the first wet gel which serves as the basicskeleton. Thus, the resultant silica aerogel may have more improvedresistance to the shrinkage of the pores during a drying process,thereby enabling a low-density aerogel to be synthesized.

The first water glass solution may be a diluted solution which is amixture obtained by adding distilled water to water glass, and the waterglass may be sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃), which is an alkali silicate saltobtained by meting silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and alkali.

The first water glass solution may contain silicon dioxide (SiO₂) in anamount of 2 to 11 wt %, more specifically 3 to 9 wt %. When the silicondioxide in the first water glass solution is contained in an amount lessthan the above range, the first silica wet gel, which serves as a basicskeleton of the silica aerogel of the present invention, may not beproperly formed. When the silicon dioxide is contained in an amounthigher than the above range, the specific surface area of the preparedfirst silica wet gel may be excessively decreased.

The acid catalyst may serve to form a reaction environment such that thereaction (sol-gel reaction) may proceed readily. For example, the acidcatalyst may control the reaction environment such that theabove-described acidity (pH) becomes.

The acid catalyst may be added in an amount such that the molar ratio ofthe acid catalyst to the silicon dioxide in the first water glasssolution may be 0.2 to 1.5, more specifically 0.5 to 1, or may be addedin an amount such that the acidity (pH) reaches the above-describedrange.

The acid catalyst is not particularly limited to, but may be, forexample, at least one selected from the group consisting ofhydrochloride acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, sulfuric acid andhydrofluoric acid, and more specifically acetic acid.

A production method according to an embodiment of the present inventionmay further include performing a step of aging the first silica wet gelproduced after the reaction of step 1).

The aging may be a step in which the silica wet gel is left standing for1 hour to 10 hours at 50 to 90° C. According to the production method ofthe present invention, the network structure inside the first silica wetgel may be formed more firmly by subjecting to the aging after theproduction of the first silica wet gel, so that the first silica wet gelmay be optimized to serve as a basic skeleton having enhanced mechanicalstability. Accordingly, the first silica wet gel may be more suitablefor the production of a low-density silica aerogel of the presentinvention.

In addition, a step of pulverizing the aged first silica wet gel may befurther performed. The further pulverizing is to allow the second waterglass solution to be better mixed and reacted with the first silica wetgel.

Step 2) according to an embodiment of the present invention may be aproduction step of forming the second silica wet gel. Specifically, anacid catalyst and a second water glass solution which is a precursor ofthe second silica wet gel are added to the prepared first silica wetgel, and the resultant mixture is stirred to produce a solution in whichthe first silica wet gel is dispersed.

The second water glass solution may contain silicon dioxide in an amountof 0.01 to 11 wt %, more specifically 1 to 6 wt %. When the silicondioxide in the second water glass solution is contained in the amountless than the above range, the second wet gel may not be organicallybonded to the first wet gel. When the silicon dioxide in the secondwater glass solution is contained in the amount higher than the aboverange, the pore structure of the produced second silica wet gel may bereduced to excessively decrease the specific surface area.

In order to produce a silica aerogel of the present invention havingenhanced mechanical properties, the first silica wet gel serving as abasic skeleton is first produced, and thereafter the second silica wetgel is organically bonded to the first silica wet gel. Thus, theconcentration ratio between the first and second water solutions, whichare silica precursors of the first and second silica wet gels, is neededto be adjusted to an appropriate range.

Therefore, the silicon dioxide in the first and second water glasssolutions of the present invention may be adjusted such that theconcentration ratio becomes 1:1 to 1100:1, specifically 1:1 to 100:1,more specifically 1:1 to 10:1, and even more specifically 1:1 to 5:1.When the concentration of the silicon dioxide in the second water glasssolution is lower than the above range, structure reinforcement isweakened and thus the shrinkage of pores may be relatively increased inthe drying process. When the concentration of the silicon dioxide in thesecond water glass solution is higher than the above range, theproportion of the second silica wet gel becomes excessively higher thanthat of the first silicon wet gel, and thus a more mechanically stablesilica aerogel may be difficult to form.

In addition, by adjusting the concentration ratio between silicondioxides in the water glass solutions, which are silica precursors, tobe added in each step, the physical properties of a silica aerogel, forexample, the tap density of the finally produced silicon aerogel mayalso be controlled.

The acid catalyst added in step 2) according to an embodiment of thepresent invention may react with a surface modifier in the surfacemodifier solution to be described later to serve to activate thedecomposition of the surface modifier. Accordingly, surface modificationreaction may be improved, and gelation may be induced by increasing thepH with the acceleration of ammonia production. The acid catalyst addedin step 2) is not particularly limited, and may be the same as ordifferent from the acid catalyst added in step 1). Specifically, theacid catalyst added in step 2) may be nitric acid, and in this case, theacid catalyst may be added in an amount such that the molar ratio of theacid catalyst to the silicon dioxide in the second water glass solutionbecomes 1 to 3.

Step 3) according to an embodiment of the present invention is a step offorming a second silica wet gel, and may be performed by adding asurface modifier solution to the solution in which the first silica wetgel is dispersed and causing a reaction.

The surface modifier solution may be prepared by adding the surfacemodifier to a nonpolar organic solvent and then mixing. In this case,the concentration of the surface modifier in the surface modifiersolution may be 0.1 to 4M. That is, the surface modifier solution may beprepared by adding 0.1 to 0.4M of the surface modifier to the nonpolarorganic solvent and then mixing.

The surface modifier may be at least one selected from the groupconsisting of trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS), hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS),methyltrimethoxysilane, trimethylethoxysilane, ethyltriethoxysilane, andphenyltriethoxysilane, and more specifically, may behexamethyldisilazane (HMDS).

The nonpolar organic solvent may be at least one selected from the groupconsisting of hexane, heptane, toluene and xylene.

In addition, the surface modifier solution may be added in an amountsuch that the molar ratio of the surface modifier to the silicon dioxidein the first water glass solution becomes 0.05 to 20, more specifically0.5 to 10. When the surface modifier solution is added in an amount suchthat the molar ratio is less than 0.05, the amount of the surfacemodifier capable of reacting with a silanol group (Si—OH) is relativelysmaller than that of the silanol group (Si—OH) in the water glasssolution, thereby causing the surface modification reactivity to belowered and making surface modification not be readily performed.Therefore, the silanol group which is not surface-modified during dryinginvolves in a condensation reaction, so that the pore size of thefinally produced silica aerogel may become small, and a porous structuremay not be achieved. In addition, when the surface modifier solution isadded in an amount such that the molar ratio is more than 20, thereexists a large amount of residual surface modifiers not participating inthe surface modification reaction, so that expensive surface modifiermay be wasted and economical efficiency may thus be poor.

Meanwhile, step 2) and step 3) according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may be performed simultaneously or sequentially. That is, thesecond water glass solution, the acid catalyst and the surface modifiersolution may be simultaneously added to the reactor; alternatively, thesecond water glass solution and the acid catalyst may be added to thereactor, followed by addition of the surface modifier solution.

More specifically, however, the surface modifier solution may be addedat a time when the internal temperature of the reactor reaches 25 to 95°C. after the second water glass solution and the acid catalyst are addedto the reactor.

When the second water glass solution and the acid catalyst are added tothe first silica wet gel, the second water glass solution and the acidcatalyst do not react with the first silica wet gel. However, when thesurface modifier solution is subsequently added, the surface modifier isdecomposed by the acid catalyst to generate ammonia, and pH is raised totrigger gelation. That is, the gelation of the second water glasssolution starts within a few minutes after the addition of the surfacemodifier solution, and, from a thermodynamic perspective, it is thusmore efficient to add the surface modifier solution in a state in whichthe internal temperature of the reactor has been raised for achievingquick gelation and surface modification.

That is, after the second water glass solution and acid catalyst areadded to the reactor, the internal temperature of the reactor is raisedto the above range, and then the surface modifier solution may be addedto carry out a reaction. In this case, the reactor may be a reactorhaving a stirrer, and the reaction may be performed with stirring. Thestirring is not particularly limited but may be performed at a speed of50 rpm to 700 rpm.

In step 3) according to an embodiment of the present invention,gelation, solvent exchange, and surface modification may be performedsimultaneously.

Specifically, the second water glass solution containing the acidcatalyst and the surface modifier solution are mixed and reacted, sothat the decomposition of the surface modifier in the surface modifiersolution is activated by the acid catalyst to generate ammonia.Therefore, the pH in the reactor is raised due to the ammonia, and abasic environment may be created, which may be lead to the gelation ofthe second water glass solution.

In addition, the solvent exchange of the second silica wet gel may beperformed by the nonpolar organic solvent included in the surfacemodifier solution, and at the same time, the surface modificationreaction of the second silica wet gel may be promoted, and the diffusionof the surface modifier solution into the previously prepared firstsilica wet gel may also promote the solvent exchange of the first wetgel and the surface modification reaction.

When gelation and surface modification are simultaneously performed asin the production of the second silica wet gel, the efficiency of thesurface modification reaction is higher than that in the case in whichsurface modification is performed subsequently after gelation. Thus,there may be also an advantage that a silica aerogel having highhydrophobicity may be produced.

Therefore, in step 3), by using the previously prepared first silica wetgel as a basic skeleton, the second silica wet gel is formed by gelationof the second water glass solution. At the same time, solvent exchangeand surface modification may be performed to form a hydrophobic silicawet gel having a structure in which the second silica wet gel isorganically bonded to the first silica wet gel which serves as the basicskeleton.

As such, the structure of the silica wet gel is formed through aplurality of steps, so that mechanical properties are further enhancedcompared with that of the case of forming the structure of the silicawet gel at a time.

Meanwhile, the production method of the present invention may furtherinclude a step of adding ammonium hydroxide during step 3) in order tofurther promote the gelation and the surface modification reaction.

Specifically, the ammonium hydroxide may be added after the total amountof the surface modifier solution used in the reaction is added to thereactor, and more specifically, the ammonium hydroxide may be involvedin the reaction by being added at a time when the pH in the reactorreaches 5 to 10 after the total amount of the surface modifier solutionis added to the reactor, or may be involved in the reaction by beingadded after the solvent exchange is completed.

In this case, the time when the pH reaches the above range may vary withthe concentration of silicon dioxide in the second water glass solution.For example, when the concentration of silicon dioxide in the secondwater glass solution is 1 to 5 wt %, the time may be 30±3 minutes justafter the total amount of the surface modifier solution is added to thereactor.

In addition, the time when the solvent exchange is completed indicates atime when the liquid which fills pores in the silica wet gel isexchanged with an organic solvent used in water, and may be observedfrom whether the silica wet gel is dispersed or not when the silica wetgel generated during the reaction is extracted and placed into a waterphase or an organic solvent phase.

In addition, the added amount of the ammonium hydroxide is notparticularly limited as long as the gelation and the surfacemodification reaction may be readily carried out without causingproblems due to other additional reactions. However, for example, theammonium hydroxide may be added in an amount such that the pH in thereactor after the addition of ammonium hydroxide is increased by 5 to57% of the pH in the reactor before the addition thereof. For instance,when the pH in the reactor before the addition of the ammonium hydroxideis 7, the ammonium hydroxide may be added in an amount such that the pHin the reactor becomes 7.35 to 11.

Specifically, the ammonium hydroxide may be added, within an amountadjustable to meet the pH range above, in an amount such that the molarratio of the ammonium hydroxide to the silicon dioxide in the firstwater glass solution becomes 0.5 to 25.

As described above, the production method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may improve the surface modification reaction byfurther adding ammonium hydroxide during the reaction of step 3) andinvolving in the reaction. Thus, the silica aerogel having highhydrophobicity may be produced without using a large amount of theexpensive surface modifier.

In step 4) according to an embodiment of the present invention, a stepof drying a silica wet gel containing the first silica wet gel and thesecond silica wet gel may be performed in order to form a silicaaerogel.

In this case, the production method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention may further include performing a washing step beforethe drying step. The washing, which is for removing impurities (sodiumions, unreacted substances, by-products, etc.) generated during thereaction to obtain a hydrophobic silica aerogel with high purity, may beperformed through a dilution process or an exchange process using anonpolar organic solvent.

Specifically, the dilution process may indicate a solvent dilutionprocess, and may be a process in which a nonpolar organic solvent may befurther added to the reactor after the surface modification reaction ofstep 3) to allow the excessive amount of the nonpolar organic solvent tobe present in the reactor. In addition, the exchange process mayindicate a solvent exchange process, and may be a process in which stepsof discharging an aqueous solution layer in the reactor after thesurface modification reaction of step 3), then introducing the nonpolarorganic solvent, and discharging again the separated aqueous solutionlayer are repeatedly performed.

More specifically, the production method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may be performed by additionally adding thenonpolar organic solvent to the silica wet gel containing the firstsilica wet gel and the second silica wet gel, and then stirring themixture for 20 minutes to 1 hour.

The drying step in the production method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may be performed by a supercritical drying processor an ambient drying process, and more specifically, the ambient dryingprocess may be performed under the conditions of a temperature of 100 to190° C. for 1 hour to 4 hours.

Thus, the production method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is advantageous in that there is no need of an expensivehigh-pressure apparatus, and drying may thus be performed for a shortertime within 6 hours at a lower production cost than as in case of usingthe conventional supercritical process, thereby improving theproductivity and economical efficiency of the silica aerogel.

The ambient drying process may be disadvantageous in that the porestructure is easily shrunk and cracked due to a high capillary force anda difference in solvent extraction speed. However, the silica aerogelproduced by the production method of the present invention may haveparticularly enhanced mechanical properties, and thus the wet gel may bedried without shrinkage while maintaining the structure of the wet gelwithout any change. Accordingly, there is a significance in that thedisadvantage of the ambient drying process may be solved.

In addition, the present invention provides a hydrophobic silica aerogelproduced by the production method.

The hydrophobic silica aerogel according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is characterized by having a specific surface area of 600 m²/gto 1,000 m²/g, and the hydrophobic silica aerogel may have a tap densityof 0.03 to 0.4 g/ml, or 0.030 to 0.070 g/ml.

As described above, in the method for producing a silica aerogelaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, there is an effectin that gelation, solvent exchange and surface modification may beperformed in a single step to reduce a production time, therebyremarkably increasing productivity and economic efficiency. Furthermore,the first silica wet gel is first produced by using the first waterglass solution, and then the second water glass solution is additionallyadded to produce the second silica wet gel organically bonded to thefirst silica wet gel which serves as a basic skeleton. Resultantly, asilica aerogel with enhanced mechanical properties is formed to improvethe resistance to shrinkage in ambient drying, and thus a low-densitysilica aerogel may be achieved. Therefore, this method is expected to bewidely used in the related industrial fields.

Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described indetail so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the presentinvention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and is not limited to the examples set forth herein.

Example 1

A first water glass solution (12.5 g of water glass) in an amount of 4wt % (a silicon dioxide content) and 3 mL of an acetic acid were putinto a reactor, and were gelled to form a silica wet gel, and then thefirst silica wet gel was aged in an oven at 50° C. Thereafter, the firstsilica wet gel was pulverized by using a pulverizer to prepare a firstsilica wet gel slurry.

1 wt % of a second water glass solution (3.5 g of water glass) and 10 gof nitric acid were added to the first silica wet gel slurry, and thetemperature was maintained while being stirred in the reactor at 55° C.

Thereafter, a surface modifier solution obtained by adding and stirring23 g of hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) to 200 mL of n-hexane to carry out areaction for preparing a second silica wet gel. After initiation of thereaction, the silica wet gel in an aqueous solution layer wassurface-modified and floated onto the top of the organic solvent layerof n-hexane. Then, in order to adjust the degree of surfacemodification, 3 mL of ammonium hydroxide was added at 30 minutes afterthe addition of surface modifier solution. When the surface modificationwas completed and a hydrophobic silica wet gel was completely floatedonto the organic solvent layer of the n-hexane, 200 mL of n-hexane wasfurther added, and then the aqueous solution layer remaining in thelower portion of the reactor was discharged through an outlet of thereactor. After 2 hours, the silica wet gel dispersed in an n-hexanelayer was completely dried in a forced convection oven at 150° C. for 6hours to produce a hydrophobic silica aerogel.

Examples 2 to 7

Silica aerogels were produced in the same manner as in Example 1, exceptthat first and second water glass solutions, an acetic acid and a nitricacid were used in respective amounts described in Table 1 below.

Comparative Example 1

Silica aerogels were produced in the same manner as in Example 1, exceptfor not adding a second water glass solution.

Comparative Examples 2 to 5

Silica aerogels were produced in the same manner as in ComparativeExample 1, except that a first water glass solution, an acetic acid anda nitric acid were used in respective amounts described in Table 1below.

Experimental Example 1: Measurement of Tap Density and Carbon Content

For comparative analysis of physical properties of hydrophobic silicaaerogels produced in Examples 1 to 7 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5,the tap density (g/mL) and carbon content of each aerogel of eachaerogel were measured, and the results were shown in Table 1 below.

1) Tap Density (g/mL)

Tap density was measured by using a tap density measuring instrument(STAV II, Engelsman AG). Specifically, each of the aerogels was placedinto a standardized cylinder (25 mL) and weighted, then the cylinder wasfixed to the tap density measuring instrument, a noise damping hood wasclosed, and 2500-times tapping was set. After the tapping measurement,the volume of each aerogel in the cylinder was measured, and a ratio ofthe previously measured weight to the above volume was calculated tomeasure the density.

2) Carbon Content (Wt %)

The carbon content was measured by using a carbon analyzer(Carbon-Sulfur Analyzer CS-2000, Eltra)

TABLE 1 Formation of Formation of first second silica wet silica wet gelgel Silicon Acetic Silicon Nitric Surface Tap Carbon Dioxide AcidDioxide Acid Modifier Density Contents (wt %) (g) (wt %) (g) (g) (g/mL)(%) Example 1 4 3 1 10 23 0.032 11.2 Example 2 4 3 2 11 23 0.043 11.7Example 3 4 3 3 12 23 0.048 12.1 Example 4 5 3.6 1 10 23 0.046 11.8Example 5 6 4.6 1 10 23 0.053 11.5 Example 6 7 5.6 1 10 23 0.066 11.6Example 7 8 5.9 1 10 23 0.070 11.8 Comparative 4 3 — 7 23 0.055 9.3Example 1 Comparative 5 3.6 — 7 23 0.063 9.2 Example 2 Comparative 6 4.6— 7 23 0.073 9.5 Example 3 Comparative 7 5.6 — 7 23 0.081 10.3 Example 4Comparative 8 5.9 — 7 23 0.085 10.1 Example 5

As shown in Table 1, it can be ascertained that the hydrophobic silicaaerogels of Examples 1 to 7 produced by the production method accordingto an embodiment of the present invention exhibit a lower tap density asa whole than the hydrophobic silica aerogels of Comparative Examples 1to 5 in which the water glass solution having the same concentration asthe concentration of the water glass solution of the Examples is added.

Generally, as the concentration of the added silica precursor increases,the tap density of the silica aerogel generally increases. However,although the silica aerogel produced by the production method of thepresent invention is obtained by adding the second water glass solutionand thus adding more silica precursors than the Comparative Examples, itcan be ascertained that the tap density of the silica aerogel of thepresent invention is lower rather than that of the Comparative Examples.When the total amount of the silica precursors in the first and secondwater glass solutions of the Examples is compared with the amount of thesilica precursor of the Comparative Example, it can be seen that thedifference is significantly meaningful.

In addition, as a result of analyzing a carbon content indirectly inorder to investigate the surface-modified amount, it can be seen thatthe carbon content in the case of introducing the step of forming thesecond silica wet gel became higher as a whole than that in the case offorming only the first silica wet gel. From this result, it can be seenthat the number of methyl functional groups formed on the surface of thesilica is increased, so that the number of hydrophobic groups on thesurface is increased.

The above results show that the mechanical properties of the silicaaerogel produced by the production method of the present invention wereenhanced, and the degree of the surface modification was thus improvedin comparison with the conventional production method. Accordingly, theproduction method of the present invention shows that the shrinkage ofpores, which may occur during drying, was decreased to thereby form alow-density silica aerogel.

The foregoing description of the present invention has been presentedfor purposes of illustration. It will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It istherefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments areillustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of preparing a silica aerogelprepared by: 1) adding a first water glass solution and an acid catalystto a reactor to form a first silica wet gel; 2) adding a second waterglass solution and an acid catalyst to the first silica wet gel; 3)adding a surface modifier solution to the first silica wet gel to form asecond silica wet gel; and 4) drying a silica wet gel including thefirst silica wet gel and the second silica wet gel, wherein the silicaaerogel has a tap density of 0.032 to 0.070 g/mL and wherein the silicaaerogel has a carbon content of 11.2 to 12.1 wt %.